Monday, October 17, 2011

A radical situation is a collective awakening. . . . In such situations people become much more open to new perspectives, readier to question previous assumptions, quicker to see through the usual cons. . . . People learn more about society in a week than in years of academic “social studies” or leftist “consciousness raising.” . . . Everything seems possible — and much more is possible. People can hardly believe what they used to put up with in “the old days.” . . . Passive consumption is replaced by active communication. Strangers strike up lively discussions on street corners. Debates continue round the clock, new arrivals constantly replacing those who depart for other activities or to try to catch a few hours of sleep, though they are usually too excited to sleep very long. While some people succumb to demagogues, others start making their own proposals and taking their own initiatives. Bystanders get drawn into the vortex, and go through astonishingly rapid changes. . . . Radical situations are the rare moments when qualitative change really becomes possible. Far from being abnormal, they reveal how abnormally repressed we usually are; they make our “normal” life seem like sleepwalking.

The “Occupy” movement that has swept across the country over the last four weeks is already the most significant radical breakthrough in America since the 1960s. And it is just beginning.

It started on September 17, when some 2000 people came together in New York City to “Occupy Wall Street” in protest against the increasingly glaring domination of a tiny economic elite over the “other 99%.” The participants began an ongoing tent-city type occupation of a park near Wall Street (redubbed Liberty Plaza in a salute to the Tahrir Square occupation in Egypt) and formed a general assembly that has continued to meet every day. Though at first almost totally ignored by the mainstream media, this action rapidly began to inspire similar occupations in hundreds of cities across the country and many others around the world.

The ruling elite don’t know what’s hit them and have suddenly been thrown on the defensive, while the clueless media pundits try to dismiss the movement for failing to articulate a coherent program or list of demands. The participants have of course expressed numerous grievances, grievances that are obvious enough to anyone who has been paying attention to what’s been going on in the world. But they have wisely avoided limiting themselves to a single demand, or even just a few demands, because it has become increasingly clear that every aspect of the system is problematic and that all the problems are interrelated. Instead, recognizing that popular participation is itself an essential part of any real solution, they have come up with a disarmingly simple yet eminently subversive proposal, urging the people of the world to “Exercise your right to peaceably assemble; occupy public space; create a process to address the problems we face, and generate solutions accessible to everyone. . . . Join us and make your voices heard!” (Declaration of the Occupation of New York City).

Almost as clueless are those doctrinaire radicals who remain on the sidelines glumly predicting that the movement will be coopted or complaining that it hasn’t instantly adopted the most radical positions. They of all people should know that the dynamic of social movements is far more important than their ostensible ideological positions. Revolutions arise out of complex processes of social debate and interaction that happen to reach a critical mass and trigger a chain reaction — processes very much like what we are seeing at this moment. The “99%” slogan may not be a very precise “class analysis,” but it’s a close enough approximation for starters, an excellent meme to cut through a lot of traditional sociological jargon and make the point that the vast majority of people are subordinate to a system run by and for a tiny ruling elite. And it rightly puts the focus on the economic institutions rather than on the politicians who are merely their lackeys. The countless grievances may not constitute a coherent program, but taken as a whole they already imply a fundamental transformation of the system. The nature of that transformation will become clearer as the struggle develops. If the movement ends up forcing the system to come up with some sort of significant, New Deal-type reforms, so much the better — that will temporarily ease conditions so we can more easily push further. If the system proves incapable of implementing any significant reforms, that will force people to look into more radical alternatives.

In Protest, the Power of PlaceKent State, Tiananmen Square, the Berlin Wall: we clearly use locales, edifices, architecture to house our memories and political energy. Politics troubles our consciences. But places haunt our imaginations.

Propaganda “perception management” is how the U.S. Government controls and pacifies the American people. It all happens in our minds. The perception managers know that as long as they can get into our heads they don‘t need guns to control us.Most mind-controlled people have no idea that they are living and thinking in terms planted into their brains by government programs. Their thoughts are not their own, but they don’t realize it.Perception managers shape our thoughts daily through TV and common information sources. Through this method, wars, political candidates, and lifestyles are sold to us … like ad agencies sell Coca Cola, McDonalds Hamburgers and fake Christmas trees. Americans live in a propaganda bubble ... and only a few realize it.

War in Europe? Not so impossibleThe dark warnings of the Polish finance minister about the prospect of war in Europe if the crisis deepens were met with scepticism. But there is no call for complacency about where current, nationalist tendencies might lead, writes the editor of Adevarul Europa.

This is a video, made for the Blogday: "7/2: A Day Against Fear"Dozens of Greek bloggers took the initiative to write against Fear, and created a public blog http://grfear.blogspot.com/ to publish their posts, along with works by other artists.

The film is a Fairytale/Parable about the child sex trafficking epidemic that has overrun our city of Atlanta. We are using the film to not only raise awareness but provoke meaningful action towards this issue taking place in our own backyard.

View the entire film on Vimeo here: http://vimeo.com/20833462

Approximately 500 children are trafficked for sex in Georgia every month, according to Street GRACE, an advocacy group whose mission is to stop the exploitation of children. Atlanta has one of the worst records for child sex trafficking in the United States and is considered one of the worst cities in the world for the sexual exploitation of minors.

This plague has gone on for too long, and now we at Whitestone, in cooperation with Doorpost, 12Stone® Church and Street GRACE want to put a stop to it.

This film represents the spearhead of a citywide and possibly a nationwide campaign.It is not a documentary. It is not a PSA. It is the beginning of a movement.

Please visit stopthecandyshop.com to find out what you can do to get involved.

Cuba´s Forgotten Art Schools: Revolution of forms (2011) "The National Schools of Art in Havana are works of extraordinary imagination that speak eloquently of their moment of creation. When John Loomis published Revolution of Forms in 1999, the schools stood unfinished and derelict, virtually forgotten in Cuba and unknown to the rest of the world. Loomis’ influential book transformed their situation and brought them deserved national and international attention. The book has played its own revolutionary role in the history of the buildings, inspiring among other things an opera, and a documentary film."Bonnie Burnham, President, World Monuments Fund

With usura hath no man a house of goodstoneeach block cut smooth and well fittingthat delight might cover their face,

with usura

hath no man a painted paradise on his churchwallharpes et luthesor where virgin receiveth messageand halo projects from incision,

with usura

seeth no man Gonzaga his heirs and hisconcubinesno picture is made to endure nor to live withbut it is made to sell and sell quickly

with usura, sin against nature,is thy bread ever more of stale ragsis thy bread dry as paper,with no mountain wheat, no strong flour

with usura the line grows thick

with usura is no clear demarcationand no man can find site for his dwellingStone cutter is kept from his stoneweaver is kept from his loom

WITH USURA

wool comes not to marketsheep bringeth no gain with usuraUsura is a murrain, usura blunteththe needle in the the maid's handand stoppeth the spinner's cunning.

Pietro Lombardo came not by usuraDuccio came not by usuranor Pier della Francesca; Zuan Bellin' not byusura nor was "La Callunia" painted.

Came not by usura Angelico; came notAmbrogio Praedis,No church of cut stone signed: Adamo mefecit.

Not by usura St. Trophime

Not by usura St. Hilaire,

Usura rusteth the chiselIt rusteth the craft and the craftsmanIt gnaweth the thread in the loomNone learneth to weave gold in her pattern;Azure hath a canker by usura; cramoisi isunbroideredEmerald findeth no Memling

Usura slayeth the child in the wombIt stayeth the young man's courtingIt hath brought palsey to bed, lyethbetween the young bride and her bridegroom

CONTRA NATURAM

They have brought whores for Eleusis Corpses are set to banquet

at behest of usura.[Hat tip to Om Eric]

A Strategy of Lies: How the White House Fed the Public a Steady Diet of Falsehoods The 56-page investigation was assembled by USAF Colonel (Ret.) Sam Gardiner. "Truth from These Podia: Summary of a Study of Strategic Influence, Perception Management, Strategic Information Warfare and Strategic Psychological Operations in Gulf II" identifies more than 50 stories about the Iraq war that were faked by government propaganda artists in a covert campaign to "market" the military invasion of Iraq. Gardiner has credentials. He has taught at the National War College, the Air War College and the Naval Warfare College and was a visiting scholar at the Swedish Defense College.According to Gardiner, "It was not bad intelligence" that lead to the quagmire in Iraq, "It was an orchestrated effort that began before the war" that was designed to mislead the public and the world. Gardiner's research lead him to conclude that the US and Britain had conspired at the highest levels to plant "stories of strategic influence" that were known to be false.The Times of London described the $200-million-plus US operation as a "meticulously planned strategy to persuade the public, the Congress, and the allies of the need to confront the threat from Saddam Hussein." The multimillion-dollar propaganda campaign run out of the White House and Defense Department was, in Gardiner's final assessment "irresponsible in parts" and "might have been illegal.""Washington and London did not trust the peoples of their democracies to come to the right decisions," Gardiner explains. Consequently, "Truth became a casualty. When truth is a casualty, democracy receives collateral damage." For the first time in US history, "we allowed strategic psychological operations to become part of public affairs... What has happened is that information warfare, strategic influence, and strategic psychological operations pushed their way into the important process of informing the peoples of our two democracies."http://www.earthisland.org/project/newsPage2.cfm?newsID...Here's his report in 6 pdf files. The organization of the Office of Global Communications is right out of Hitler's Ministry of Propaganda. It's no surprise to see the names of Karl Rove, Karen Hughes, Mary Matalin, Scooter Libby, etc.http://www.usnews.com/usnews/politics/whispers/document...http://www.usnews.com/usnews/politics/whispers/document...http://www.usnews.com/usnews/politics/whispers/document...http://www.usnews.com/usnews/politics/whispers/document...http://www.usnews.com/usnews/politics/whispers/document...http://www.usnews.com/usnews/politics/whispers/document...

http://www.thinkingallowed.com/2ayoung.htmlThe planets in astrology represent important distinctions concerning the different realms of reality that often become confused in science. In part one of this two-part program, Arthur M. Young states that insights about angular relationships were very important in the development of the helicoptor and led him to develop a model in which the measure formulae of physics are expressed in a manner isomorphic to the signs of the zodiac.In part two of the DVD, Young elaborates on the difference between the planets Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, explaining how the planetary cycles of Saturn have had significance in his own life. He discusses the use of progressed charts in astrology from the perspective of systems theory in which whole cycles are embedded within each other. Astrology, he suggests, is a larger more comprehensive system than science. Scientists can benefit from studying it regardless of its application in individual horoscopes.Arthur M. Young, born in 1905, was the inventor of the Bell Helicoptor. He was also founder of the Institute for the Study of Consciousness in Berkeley, California, and author of The Reflexive Universe and The Geometry of Meaning.magical realism

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Roots

Revelation 13

And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy...

...And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?...

Mark 13

And when ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars, be ye not troubled: for such things must needs be; but the end shall not be yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.